Saturday, January 24, 2009

Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (21)



At the start of the last round of exploration, the opening detectives tackle the line that often seems the most dangerous for Black against the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) but which is also one his strongest and most principled refutations.


RevvedUp - Crafty 19.19
blitz 2 12, 2006


1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ke6

A line that shows up many places on this blog. (See "A sparkling variation to the tiresome Piano game", "Jerome Gambit Tournament: Chapter II" and "Jerome Gambit Tournament: Chapter III" for examples.)

7.Qf5+ Kd6 8.f4 Qf6


In the 6...Ke6 defense, this move is often essential – and strong.



9.fxe5+ Qxe5 10.Qf8+


A line that looks attractive – if it were any good.


10...Kc6

It turns out that Black can even let the Rook go with 10...Ne7 11.Qxh8 if he follows up with 11...Ng6 bundling up the Queen. After 12.Qxh7 Qxe4+ 13.Kf1 White's King, not Black's, is in danger.

11.Qf3

White has lost a tempo on the main line 10.Qf3.

12...Nf6 12.d3 d5

The side with the better development should open up lines for attack. Crafty 19.19 has a good feel for defending against the Jerome.

13.Nc3 dxe4 14.Nxe4 Re8


White will be crushed.


15.Bf4 Qxb2 16.Kd2 Nxe4+ 17.dxe4 Qd4+ 18.Qd3 Bb4+ 19.Ke2 Rxe4+ 20.Kf3 Rxf4+ White resigns.




All in all, a rather serious black eye for the Jerome Gambit. Clearly, 10.Qf8+ TN is not the remedy to 8...Qf6.


Friday, January 23, 2009

A Personal Loss

I have just learned that chessfriend Calvin Olson, of California, USA, author of The Chess Kings Volume One, has passed away suddenly.

I met Calvin (via email) when I reviewed his book for the Chessville web site.

Of Chess Kings Volume One, subtitled History, Politics, and the Fine Art of Mythmaking in Chess my review noted

Olson, a chess teacher, Correspondence Chess Master and historian, is a good choice to tackle this topic. He is well-read on the topic, having a personal chess library of over 3,000 volumes. His chess writings have been published (School Mates, Gambit) and he has edited a chess newsletter (The Orange Knight). Incidentally, he has served as proofreader for chess books (including several for Random House). The Chess Kings Volume One is the result of 30 years of studying chess, followed by 10 years of research and writing.

It was not surprising that The Chess Kings received the the Perry PawnPusher Awards Was There Chess Before Fischer? Award.

Calvin was amused to receive the award, and we both smiled when his publisher, Trafford, mentioned it on its site.

According to Calvin's wife, Gail, he was working on the last chapter of Volume II the day he died. John Watson has agreed to finish the last chapter using Calvin's notes and intent. As she noted

I hope that this volume is available soon so that others can appreciate his talent and what he wanted to give back to chess for all the years of pleasure that it gave him.

To which I can only add: Amen.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Having some merit to be worthy of attention...



A quote from the Internet, rec.games.chess.misc, from 1999:




[on the topic "Very daring line of the Latvian... The Corkscrew Countergambit"]


An opening or a variation which has a name is one which is recognized as good or having some merit to be worthy of attention. Even the Jerome Gambit, which is probably the worst recognized gambit in all of chess, does offer some reasons for analysis. However, this sequence of moves you give here is simply a blunder with no redeaming social value. Sam Sloan

Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Don't get me started...

About five years ago, someone in the rec.games.chess.misc newsgroup asked about the chess player Isidor Gunsberg, noting

chessmetrics.com, sometimes interesting to check for historical purposes, rates Gunsberg as #3 in the world for 1890 and 1891 based on his performances.

He had some pretty nice tournament results, such as

- 1st place DSB Kongress in 1885, ahead of players like Blackburne, Tarrasch, Mackenzie, and Bird

- 2nd place USA Congress in 1889, behind the tied Miksa Weiss and Tchigorin, and ahead of Burn, Blackburne, Max Judd (probably the best player in the USA at that time), Bird, Showalter

- Tied 2nd place London 1900, and lone 2nd place at London 1904

His match results were also notable, such as:

- Victory over Blackburne in 1887 (7/12 to 5/12)

- Drawing with the peak-form Tchigorin in 1890! (11.5/23) This just after Tchigorin`s World Championship match

- Losing the 3rd FIDE-recognised World Championship match to Steinitz in 1890, by 2 games (8.5/19)



Of course,I had to ask if anyone knew if Gunsberg, an openings explorer in his own right, had ever played the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).

After receiving the obligatory put-down that the opening was "considered unsound by all reputable theoreticians" I started my typical yammering on my favorite opening in response.

George,

Thank you for your comments and the information on the Jerome Gambit! It's a topic I can really get lost in..

> The Jerome Gambit, considered unsound by all reputable theoreticians,

G.H.D. Gossip, in his "Theory of the Chess Openings," 2nd ed, 1879, wrote "the Gambit, which although unsound, affords some highly instructive analysis for less practised players."

William Cook, in his "Synopsis of the Chess Openings," 3rd ed, 1882, wrote that "the Jerome Gambit, which, although unsound, affords some highly instructive analysis."

The "American Supplement to the 'Synopsis,' containing American Inventions In the Chess Openings Together With Fresh Analysis in the Openings Since 1882; Also A List of Chess Clubs in the United States and Canada" edited by J.W. Miller, noted "The 'Jerome Gambit,' 4.BxPch, involves an unsound sacrifice; but it is not an attack to be trifled with. The defense requires study, and is somewhat difficult."

(One book reviewer suggested that the offense required study, too; and that the game was even more difficult for White than for Black!)

Of course, Raymond Keene had the (almost) last word in his "The Complete Book of Gambits" 1992 - "This is totally unsound and should never be tried!"

> first appeared in the American Chess Journal in 1876, according to The Oxford Companion to Chess.

To the best of my knowledge, the first appearance of the Jerome Gambit was in the Dubuque Chess Journal for April 1874, in a small article titled "New Chess Opening." (Yes, I've shared this information with Mr. Whyld, and he has been quite pleasant and supportive in my Jerome Gambit researches.)


>It was recommended by Alonzo Wheeler Jerome of Paxton,Illinois. Jerome was born on 8 March 1834 in Four Mile Point, New York, and died on 22 March 1902 in Springfield, Illinois. His obituary appeared in the 23 March 1902 edition of the Illinois State Journal - page 6, column 3.

I have a copy of the obituary - it is short, about a half-dozen sentences. In light of such a paltry send-off, I can understand why some people would want to write their own death notices.


> The Jerome Gambit (1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. Bxf7+?) cannot be recommended for serious chess since Black gains the advantage after 4...Kxf7 5. > Nxe5+ Nxe5 6. Qh5+ Kf8 7. Qxe5 d6.

There are several refutations of the Jerome Gambit.

The 6...Kf8 line was first given by Jerome, himself, in the July 1874 Dubuque Chess Journal. It has shown up in such fine places as Harding's "Counter Gambits" 1974, ECO "C" 1st ed, 1974, "Batsford Chess Openings," 1st ed, 1982 and "Enciclopedia Dei Gambietti," 1998. Sorensen, in his May 1877 article in Nordisk Skaktidende, "Chess Theory for Beginners," (subsequently translated in Chess Players' Chronicle of August of the same year) recommended 5...Kf8. Of course, 6...Ke3 is also playable.

Jerome, himself, kept things in perspective. The Pittsburg Telegraph, June 8, 1881, wrote "A letter received from Mr. A. W. Jerome calls attention to the fact that he does not claim the Jerome Gambit to be analytically sound, but only that over the board it is sound enough to afford a vast amount of amusement."

Others joined in the jocularity. The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, in its May 7, 1879 review of Gossip's "Theory" noted "...The Jerome Gambit, which high-toned players sometimes affect to despise because it is radically unsound finds a place, and to this it is certainly entitled. As this opening is not in any Manual, to our knowledge, we transfer it to our columns, with the exception of a few minor variations, and we believe our readers will thank us for so doing."

In a March 13, 1880 review of the 6th ed of the Handbuch, the same author" complained" again: "We are somewhat disappointed that the 'Thorold Variation' of the 'Allgaier Gambit' should be dismissed with only a casual note in the appendix, and that the "Jerome Gambit" should be utterly (even if deservedly) ignored."

Enough. I'll close with a comment from Lasker, in his Chess Magazine, in reply to a correspondent "Ichabodf: - No; the Jerome gambit is not named after St. Jerome. His penances, if he did any, were in atonement of rather minor transgressions compared with the gambit."

Rick Kennedy

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The next best thing...



A few posts ago (see "London calling... Seven Months of Blog") I asked readers to suggest "another totally obscure and disreputable tactical opening line or gambit that I could go digging for information about, while I'm researching the Jerome Gambit."

Jerome Gambit Gemeinde member Pete Banks ("blackburne"), in a Comment, suggested 1.h4, a move with which he has had some success, following his own idea of 2. g3, 3.Nh3, 4.Bg2, and 5.0-0.

So I did a little research.

Althought Tim Harding, in his Dynamic White Openings (1989), calls 1.h4 "The most despised of openings, not even worthy of a name," it has sometimes been called the Deprès Opening, according the Oxford Companion to Chess (1984).

More often, though, 1.h4 goes by the name of the Kadas Opening. Eric Schiller, in his Unorthodox Chess Openings (1998, 2002), writes

The Hungarian player Kadas has the dubious distinction of being perhaps the greatest living exponent of 1.h4, a move even Myers, a true fan of bizarre openings, considers poor.

He is referring to Hugh E. Myers, who in his Exploring the Chess Openings (1978) had this to say

If there were an election for the worst possible first move, 1.P-KR4 would have excellent winning chances.

Grandmaster Bent Larsen, in the Encyclopedia of Chess Openings, Volume A (1979), gave "1.h4? e5 =/+"

So Kadas' Opening would seem to meet the criteria set above for "disreputable" – even if it receives more complete and respectful treatment in Stefan Bücker's Groteske Schacheröffnungen (1990).

Do readers have other suggestions?

Monday, January 19, 2009

Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (20)


The following Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+) game is a humorous miniature, where RevvedUp finds just the proper threat to cause Yace Paderborn to panic and yield the draw. Human totally out-foxes computer.



Yace Paderborn - RevvedUp blitz 2 12, 2006
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qxc5

No "nudging" check of the King this time.

7...d6 8.Qd5+ Kf8


9.d3 Nf6 10.Qb3 b6 11.0-0 Qe7

White has reached a reasonable Jerome Gambit position where he has two pawns for his sacrificed piece. No doubt Yace Paderborn sees itself as being about a pawn behind in the game. This would hardly trouble a human gambiteer, but when the computer spots an escape from this situation – to a draw – it takes it.


Readers can decide for themselves if a draw is a positive outcome for the first player in a Jerome game – when he outranks his opponent by 1,000 points.


12.Nc3 Be6 13.Qa4 Bd7 14.Qa6 Bc8 15.Qb5 Bd7 16.Qa6 Bc8 17.Qb5 Bd7 18.Qa6 draw

Sunday, January 18, 2009

Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (19)





Our human chess investigator takes on his last computer opponent for this round of play with the Jerome Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+).


RevvedUp - Yace Paderborn blitz 2 12, 20061.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Bc5 4.Bxf7+ Kxf7 5.Nxe5+ Nxe5 6.Qh5+ Ng6

7.Qd5+ Ke8 8.Qxc5 d6 9.Qe3 Qh4

We saw this move played first, only with Black's King on f8, by Shredder 8 (see "Jerome Gambit: Drilling Down (17)").

10.0-0 Nf6 11.Nc3 Ng4 12.Qg3 Qxg3 13.hxg3 Be6

Again reaching a position that is objectively better for Black, but which is the kind that RevvedUp likes to play against computers.

14.f4 Bf7 15.d3 Kd7 16.Bd2 Ne7 17.Rae1 Rhf8 18.a3 Rae8 19.Nd1 Bh5 20.Ne3 Kc8

Yace Paderborn has effectively castled-by-hand.

21.Nxg4 Bxg4 22.Kf2 Nc6

The White King is safe in his fortress – for now.

23.Bc3 Rf7 24.Rh1 h6 25.Rh4 h5 26.Rhh1 Ne7 27.Rc1 Kb8 28.b3 Nc6 29.Bb2 g5 30.Ke3 d5

In past games RevvedUp has done well in closed positions, especially when he can "threaten" a draw by repition of position; it is not a good sign for him that Yace Paderborn wants to rip things open.

31.Rhf1 dxe4 32.dxe4 Rfe7 33.e5 Rf7 34.c4 Rd8


Invasion on the d-file will spell the end for White.

35.Rc2 Rfd7 36.Rff2 gxf4+ 37.gxf4 Ne7 38.Bc3 Rd3+ 39.Ke4 Bf5 checkmate